Update/Yr Friday: Giant Battle Monster (Tonight!) + Amy Rigby/Wreckless Eric + Russell Simmons + More

Gotten a bunch of cool new stuff up on the site recently, so I wanted to point to it and let everybody bask in the wonderment… First and foremost, I did a writeup this week for an EP sent to me a while back by local boys Giant Battle Monster, entitled Giant Battle Monster vs. The Man With a Gun for a Head, and I have to say, it is one weird-yet-compelling slab of messy noise-prog. It goes full-tilt in every direction, coming off less like a band than a bunch of Surrealists handed instruments and told to just go to town, and yet, I find myself liking it quite a bit. Check the full review up here.

The band’s playing tonight, by the way, up at Mango’s alongside fellow local luminaries Cop Warmth (who’re entertaining as hell) and Darwin’s Finches, plus headliners Clockpole. Dunno about them, but definitely get there early for the GBM portion of the show; I hear it blows away the recorded stuff, so that’s bound to be something to see.

We’ve got other reviews up, too, as of late last week, of stuff like the Blakroc album, the most recent (and stunning) EP from While You Were Gone, and the latest by ex-Reflux outfit Animals As Leaders (see here, here, and here), among others, plus a long, long, long-overdue review of the Muhammad Ali/Black Congress split-album, and that’s how i forgot about the bomb.

I was lucky enough to catch MA early on was very impressed, but I didn’t stumble across the actual recorded stuff ’til a ways after (and in CDR form, not the original cassette), but holy crap is it good, on the part of both bands. I’d recommend it highly, but honestly, you’re not likely to be able to find it, so that’d probably just be salt on the wound. Check here for the full review, then go see Muhammad Ali on January 25th at Super Happy Fun Land, eh?

Of course, it’s not all about the reviews, so I’m happy to say that we’ve got some new interviews up, namely of Amy Rigby and Def Jam impresario Russell Simmons(!). The former’s the first part of a two-part set, courtesy of expat Houstonian Danny Mee, which he originally did back before Ike smacked our Houston-dwelling asses to the floor and pretty much killed all shows in the area for several weeks; it’s languished in Limbo ever since, so I’m very glad to help it see the light of day. Keep an eye out for part 2, featuring Rigby’s husband/musical compatriot Wreckless Eric, to be up in a week or so.

As for the Russell Simmons interview, hell, I’m convinced writer Rafael Rivas just fronted Simmons while he was out eating lunch somewhere, but I’m psyched to have their little chat up on the site. Both interviews are good shit, trust me — see here and here.

Yr. Abbreviated Weekend, Pt. 1:
Before I go any further afield, I want to mention a few other things going on tonight… Well, and not going on, as it turns out — just fyi, it seems tonight’s Pierced Arrows/Lullabye Arkestra show’s been moved backwards, from January 15th all the way to March 15th. If you were planning on hitting The Mink tonight to see ’em, you may want to make alternate plans. Or, hell, just go anyway, since Urbane Guerilla Sound System will be there doing their “Fistful of Soul” thing, and you know you can’t beat vintage soul 45’s, right?

Okay, maybe that’s not your thing — you could also head over to the ambiguously-named The Temporary Space (1320 Nance) for the opening of the Persuasion art show. The show features stuff by Michael Dee and longtime scenester/musician Domokos Benczedi, and there’ll be music courtesy of Kunst Fascion; it’s gonna be cool, I swear.

There’s also Jody Seabody and the Whirls up at Super Happy Fun Land, a cool house show out in Richmond at the i.am.we.commUNITY House (819 Land Grant) with Hats & Statues, The County Lines, & Hobomouth, and waaaaay down in Clear Lake, you can hit The Scout Bar to check out the Supersuckers, with cool dudes Come See My Dead Person as one of the openers. Not as jam-packed a night as some, I’ll admit, but still, there’s some decent stuff going on.

With that out of the way, here’s the full pile of new stuff:

Interviews: Amy Rigby; Russell Simmons

Reviews: Giant Battle Monster; Muhammad Ali/Black Congress; Blakroc; While You Were Gone; Skeletonwitch; Animals As Leaders; Grand Archives; Orioles; & Sounds Like BS.

More to come…